12 April, 2011:
Today our yaks arrived in base camp to bring our loads to Advanced Base
Camp. First all individual loads had to be weight, more than 150 pieces of
kitchen equipment, food, climbing gear and personal gear from members and
staff. A total weight of 2400kg! Then the argument started of which yak is
going to carry which load and so on.... This took a couple hours, but
eventually all yaks left base camp together with our climbing Sherpa's and
some of our kitchen staff. They will prepare interim camp at 5800m and
Advanced Base Camp at 6400m for us. All members and I will move up the
mountain to interim tomorrow, where we will stay here two nights. Then we
move to Advance Base Camp at 6400m. We have to move slowly to give our
bodies time to get used to the high altitude. The early stage of
acclimatization is crucial, it's like a foundation of a building...if this
is strong and solid you can build whatever you want on top! Last night we
watched another movie in Base Camp, my small projector seems to be a big
hit!This is it for now, more news from interim camp. Arnold Coster,
expedition leader

11 April, 2011:
Tomorrow we expect our yaks to carry our expedition gear to interim camp at
about 5800m, then the following day they will move on to advanced basecamp
at 6400m. We will be one day behind the yaks and some of our staff, so we
will not be in their way preparing the camps for us. We will leave for
interim on the 13th, stay there for two nights and then move on to ABC.
Below is a dispatch written by Dom, cheers Arnold Coster exp. leader....

Hello from Everest Base Camp Tibet at 5200 metres. It's Dom here writing
the latest report on the teams activities. We have been in Base Camp a
couple of days now after our dash across the Tibetan plateau from the town
of Tingri. We are all now trying to fall into expedition life at Base Camp,
setting up our tents to make them as comfortable as possible with blankets
and plenty of snack food from home. The food is great with our head chef
putting together some great dishes and even making an effort for the two
vegetarians in the group! The group is getting on well and with Everest
directly in front of us it focuses the mind of the task that lies ahead. We
walked down to the monastery today where a Lama gave us the blessing for the
climb, everyone left feeling that it was a positive experience. Arnold has
managed to set up a projector from his laptop so last night we were watching
movies on the big screen! I did not think that I would be doing that at
basecamp, but it's a great way to pass the time and hang out together. We
move on up the mountain the day after tomorrow to Interim Camp where it will
no doubt be a lot colder, as on Franks thermometer it registered -21
degrees centigrade last night! I'll leave it there for now as I have to pack
my things to be sent up to Advanced Base Camp. Just to let you all know that
we are having a few issues with sending general emails at the moment so
hopefully it will be sorted out soon, something to do with the solar panels.
This is Dom signing out from a windy base camp in Tibet.

9 April, 2011:
After an early start we arrived in base camp today at around 5200m. We took
an off road shortcut from Tingri. This road zig zags through the mountains
behind Tingri and finally ends up in Everest Base camp. This is a really
remote area with only a few small villages, but to our surprise all of a
sudden a couple Tibetan men on horseback showed up! The people look wild;
they look like some warriors from the Ghengis Khan era. They wear big yak
fur clothing with nice decoration on their heads. After passing the Rongbuk
Monastery we got a full view of Everest or Chomolungma as people call her
here. Our kitchen staff, which came from Lhasa yesterday, already pitched
all the tents and quickly served us a delicious meal. Samdien our cook
really knows what we need! In base camp we have a full kitchen setup, a
dining/leisure tent, each member has his own personal tent and there is a
tent to shower and a toilet tent. The next couple off day we will spend
relaxing and making small day hikes to get used to our new elevation. Also
we will visit the " Lama" a Buddhist priest in the monastery to get his
blessing for our expedition. We probably will move up to in trim camp on the
13th of April, this will be the next step up in our approach of Chomolungma.

8 April, 2011:
After an early start in Kathmandu we crossed the border easy at Zhangmu. The
TMA (Tibet Mountaineering Association) arranged three nice Land cruisers and
a truck for us. After a delicious meal at their Base camp restaurant they
drove us straight to Tingri at around 4400m. The journey through the narrow
canyon to Nyalam is very beautiful, doesn't matter how many times I drive
this. Then all of a sudden the canyon stops and you are in Nylam where the
Tibetan plateau starts. Here it looks like you are on a different planet,
there is hardly any vegetation, but still the Tibetans manage to grow
potatoes and Barley somehow. The colors in the earth are fascinating and the
snow covered peaks in the distance make it even more spectacular! We arrived
in Tingri late in the evening, where another nice Chinese meal was waiting
for us. Today we are just relaxing wandering into town and enjoying the
views. Our cook Samdien should arrive today in Base camp with our supplies
from Lhasa and we are all looking forward to meeting him tomorrow afternoon.
So tomorrow we will be at the foot of the mountain, the next couple of days
we will spend hanging around in camp, making our " new home" as cozy as
possible. It's also possible to make small hikes to explore the way to the
next camp..This is it for now,

Arnold Coster, Expedition Leader

Earlier:

Everest expeditions commence 29-Mar-11

29 March, 2011

Today is the first day of our spring climbing and walking season. We are in
Kathmandu and all of the members are arriving. Tomorrow is the big team
briefing at the Kohinoor Hotel. It has been raining here in Kathmandu, which
is good as it keeps the dust down and puts water into the reservoirs. If all
goes well, we plan to fly to Lukla on 31 March. Please wish us luck. Thanks
for following our expedition teams in Nepal and Tibet!

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